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Do not fill this in! === Water power, lumber, and flour milling === [[File:Mid 1850s Daguerreotype of St. Anthony Falls (cropped, grayscale, levels).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|alt=Waterfall surrounded by sawmills and scaffolding|[[Saint Anthony Falls]] {{circa|1850s}}]] Minneapolis developed around Saint Anthony Falls, the only natural waterfall on the Mississippi, which was used as a source of energy.<ref name=NPSfalls /> A 1989 Minnesota Archaeological Society analysis of the Minneapolis riverfront describes the use of [[hydropower|water power]] in Minneapolis between 1880 and 1930 as "the greatest direct-drive waterpower center the world has ever seen".{{sfn|Anfinson|1990|loc=Chapter 4 Interpretive Potentials}} Minneapolis earned the nickname "Mill City."<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.minneapolis.org/about-us/history-of-minneapolis/ |title = About Us |access-date = February 28, 2023 |publisher = City of Minneapolis |archive-date = March 15, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230315160736/https://www.minneapolis.org/about-us/history-of-minneapolis/ |url-status = live }}</ref><ref name=Sturdevant /> The city's two founding industries—lumber and flour milling—developed in the 19th century nearly concurrently. Flour milling overshadowed lumber for some decades; nevertheless, each came to prominence for about fifty years.{{efn|"Minneapolis would be the nation's flour capital for 50 years." and "Begun in 1848, timber milling had lasted for almost 50 years."{{sfn|Anfinson|Madigan|Forsberg|Nunnally|2003}}}} The city's first commercial [[sawmill]] was built in 1848, and the first [[gristmill]] in 1849.{{sfn|Gras|1922|pp=300–301}}{{efn|These mills were the first built for commerce. Earlier, soldiers from Fort Snelling built a sawmill in 1820, and a grist mill in 1823, on the west bank near the falls.{{sfn|Liebling|Morrison|1966|p=18}}{{sfn|Kane|1987|p=165}}}} A lumber industry was built around forests in northern Minnesota, largely by lumbermen emigrating from [[Maine]]'s depleting forests.{{sfn|Blegen|1975|p=320}}{{sfn|Larson|2007|p=15}} Towns built in western Minnesota with lumber from Minneapolis sawmills shipped their wheat back to the city for milling.{{sfn|Lass|2000|p=175}} The region's waterways were used to transport logs well after railroads developed; the Mississippi River carried logs to [[St. Louis]] until the early 20th century.{{sfn|Lass|2000|pp=173–174}} In 1871, of the thirteen mills sawing lumber in St. Anthony, eight ran on water power and five ran on steam power.{{sfn|Larson|2007|p=146}} Minneapolis supplied the materials for farmsteads and settlement of rapidly expanding cities on the [[prairie]]s that lacked wood.{{sfn|Larson|2007|pp=7, 29}} [[White pine]] milled in Minneapolis built [[Miles City, Montana]]; [[Bismarck, North Dakota]]; [[Sioux Falls, South Dakota]]; [[Omaha, Nebraska]]; and [[Wichita, Kansas]].{{sfn|Lass|2000|p=173}} Auxiliary businesses on the river's west bank in 1871 included woolen mills, iron works, a railroad machine shop, and mills for cotton, paper, sashes, and wood-planing.<ref>{{cite web |last1 = Frame |first1 = Robert M. III |first2 = Jeffrey |last2 = Hess |title = Historic American Engineering Record MN-16: West Side Milling District |publisher = [[US National Park Service]] |url = http://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/mn/mn0100/mn0100/data/mn0100data.pdf |date = January 1990 |access-date = December 5, 2020 |page = 2 |archive-date = June 12, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170612023256/https://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/mn/mn0100/mn0100/data/mn0100data.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref> Due to the occupational hazards of milling, by the 1890s, six companies manufactured artificial limbs.<ref>{{cite news |last = Hart |first = Joseph |url = http://www.citypages.com/1997-06-11/news/lost-city/full/ |date = June 11, 1997 |work = [[City Pages]] |title = Lost City |access-date = January 12, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131104062935/http://www.citypages.com/1997-06-11/news/lost-city/full/ |archive-date = November 4, 2013 }}</ref> Growing use of steam power freed lumbermen and their sawmills from dependence on the falls.{{sfn|Kane|1987|p=108|loc="Another factor which contributed to the decline of sawmilling at the falls was steam power"}} Lumber was the main Minneapolis industry in 1870,{{sfn|Kane|1987|p=106}} before flour milling overtook it in the 1880s.{{sfn|Kane|1987|p=106}} Lumbering reached a statewide peak in 1900 when its decline began.{{sfn|Lass|2000|p=180}} After depleting Minnesota's white pine,{{sfn|Risjord|2005|p=131|loc="By then, however, the pine woods were virtually exhausted"}} some lumbermen moved on to [[Douglas fir]] in the [[Pacific Northwest]].{{sfn|Lass|2000|p=180|loc=Here, Lass calls the lumbermen's actions as cutting at a "rapacious rate", and calls out a "rapacious assault on the coniferous forests" on page 196}} Sawmills in the city including the Minneapolis [[Weyerhauser]] mill closed by 1919.<ref>{{cite web|title=The National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings: Theme XVII-b|volume=2|author=[[National Park Service]] and [[United States Department of the Interior]]|date=1966|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|url=http://npshistory.com/publications/nhl/theme-studies/commerce-industry-2.pdf|quote=The last of Minneapolis' once great sawmills, that of Frederick Weyerhaeuser and Associates, closed forever in 1919.|access-date=August 27, 2023|archive-date=August 27, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230827182832/http://npshistory.com/publications/nhl/theme-studies/commerce-industry-2.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> [[File:Loaders-Pillsbury-Minneapolis.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Two men who loaded flour and a bag of flour that says Monahan's Minneapolis and a Pillsbury truck|Loading flour, [[Pillsbury Company|Pillsbury]], 1939]] Disasters struck the city in the late 19th century. Dug under the river at [[Nicollet Island]], the [[Eastman tunnel]] leaked in 1869. Water sucked the {{convert|6|ft|m|abbr=on}} [[tailrace]] into a {{convert|90|ft|m|abbr=on}}-wide chasm.<ref name=Carroll /> Community-led repairs failed and in 1870, several buildings and mills fell into the river.<ref name=Carroll /> For years, the [[U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]] struggled to close the gap with timber until their concrete dike held in 1876.<ref name=Carroll>{{cite web |title = Engineering the Falls: The Corps of Engineers' Role at St. Anthony Falls |first1 = Jane |last1 = Lamm Carroll |date = October 27, 2015 |access-date = October 9, 2022 |url = https://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Stories/Article/626089/engineering-the-falls-the-corps-of-engineers-role-at-st-anthony-falls/ |publisher = St. Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |archive-date = October 9, 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221009171443/https://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Stories/Article/626089/engineering-the-falls-the-corps-of-engineers-role-at-st-anthony-falls/ |url-status = live }}</ref> In 1870, and again in 1887, fire destroyed the entire row of sawmills on the east bank.{{sfn|Kane|1987|pp=81, 122}} In 1878, an explosion of flour dust at the [[Great Mill Disaster|Washburn A mill]] killed eighteen people{{sfn|Liebling|Morrison|1966|p=181}} and demolished several mills.<ref name=deBeaulieu>{{cite news|title=History: The Mill Explosion|last=de Beaulieu|first=Ron|date=Winter 2023|work=Minnesota Alumni|publisher=[[University of Minnesota]]|access-date=June 5, 2023|url=https://www.minnesotaalumni.org/stories/history-the-mill-explosion|archive-date=June 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605230020/https://www.minnesotaalumni.org/stories/history-the-mill-explosion|url-status=live}}</ref> The explosion cost the city nearly one half of its capacity, but the mill was rebuilt the next year.{{sfn|Blegen|1975|p=352}} In 1893, fire spread from Nicollet Island to Boom Island to northeast Minneapolis where wind stopped it at the stone [[Grain Belt (beer)#The former brewery|Grain Belt Brewery]]. Twenty blocks were destroyed and two people died.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lileks|first=James|title=Minnesota Moment: Grain Belt stopped Northeast fire of 1893|url=https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-moment-grain-belt-stopped-northeast-fire-of-1893/490498241/|newspaper=[[Star Tribune]]|access-date=December 1, 2023|date=August 10, 2018|archive-date=November 22, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231122183909/https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-moment-grain-belt-stopped-northeast-fire-of-1893/490498241/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Cadwallader C. Washburn]] founded Washburn-Crosby, the company that became [[General Mills]].{{sfn|Danbom|2003|p=274}}{{sfn|Watts|2000|p=95}} He learned of and adopted three flour milling innovations:{{sfn|Watts|2000|p=92}} [[middlings purifier]]s blew out the [[husk]]s that had colored flour;{{sfn|Danbom|2003|p=277}} gradual reduction by steel and porcelain [[roller mill]]s combined gluten with starch;{{sfn|Danbom|2003|p=277}} and a ventilation system decreased the risk of explosion by reducing flour dust in the air.{{sfn|Watts|2000|p=96}} Washburn and partner [[John Crosby (General Mills)|John Crosby]]{{sfn|Lass|2000|p=162}} sent Austrian civil engineer [[William de la Barre]] to [[Hungary]] where he acquired some of these innovations through [[industrial espionage]].{{sfn|Danbom|2003|p=277}} De la Barre carefully calculated and managed the power at the falls and encouraged steam for auxiliary power.{{sfn|Kane|1987|p=118}} [[Charles Alfred Pillsbury]] and the [[Pillsbury Company|C. A. Pillsbury Company]] across the river hired Washburn employees and began using the new methods.{{sfn|Danbom|2003|p=277}} The [[Wheat production in the United States#Classification and uses|hard red spring wheat]] grown in Minnesota became valuable—$0.50 profit per barrel in 1871 {{USDCY|0.50|1871}} increased to $4.50 in 1874 {{USDCY|4.50|1874}}{{sfn|Watts|2000|p=94}}—and Minnesota "patent" flour was recognized at the time as the best bread flour in the world.{{sfn|Danbom|2003|p=277}} By 1895, through the efforts of silent partner [[William Hood Dunwoody]], Washburn-Crosby exported four million barrels of flour a year to the United Kingdom.{{sfn|Gray|1954|pp=33–35}} When exports peaked in 1900, fourteen percent of America's grain was milled in Minneapolis{{sfn|Danbom|2003|p=277}} and about one third of that was shipped overseas.{{sfn|Gray|1954|p=41}} Overall production peaked at 18.5 million barrels in 1916.{{sfn|Liebling|Morrison|1966|p=180}} Decades of [[soil exhaustion]], [[stem rust]], and changes in freight tariffs combined to quash the city's flour industry.{{sfn|Lass|2000|p=238}} In the 1920s, Washburn-Crosby and Pillsbury developed new milling centers in [[Buffalo, New York]], and [[Kansas City, Missouri]], while maintaining their headquarters in Minneapolis.{{sfn|Lass|2000|p=238|loc="The anticipated decline came rather abruptly during the 1920s. By the end of that decade the Mill City produced only slightly more than half as much flour as it had at its zenith, and ranked third after Buffalo and Kansas City, Missouri."}} Under increasingly consolidated management, plants on the Minneapolis mill properties generated [[hydroelectricity]] with surplus water.{{sfn|Kane|1987|pp=156, 166, 171}} Hydroelectricity became the equal of flour milling as a user of the falls's power.{{sfn|Kane|1987|p=164}} [[Northern States Power]] bought the united mill companies in 1923,{{sfn|Kane|1987|p=171}} and by the 1950s controlled over 53,000 horsepower at the falls.{{sfn|Kane|1987|p=174}} In 1971, the falls became a [[List of contributing properties in the St. Anthony Falls Historic District|national historic district]].{{sfn|Kane|1987|p=186}} Hitherto "the backside of the city",{{sfn|Weber|2022|p=159}} the riverfront caught the attention of a convoluted network of private and government interests who sometimes fought. They developed [[townhouse]]s and [[high rise]]s, and rebuilt and renovated lofts—often neglecting affordability—revitalizing mills on both banks.{{sfn|Nathanson|2010|loc=Chapter 6, ''Reimagining the Riverfront''}} The upper St. Anthony [[lock and dam]] permanently closed in 2015,<ref>{{cite news|title=Army Corps studying dam removal that could restore free-flowing Mississippi River in Twin Cities|url=https://www.startribune.com/army-corps-studying-dam-removal-that-could-restore-free-flowing-mississippi-river-in-twin-cities/600216559/|date=October 17, 2022|last=Johnson|first=Chloe|access-date=June 28, 2023|work=[[Star Tribune]]|archive-date=June 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628194305/https://www.startribune.com/army-corps-studying-dam-removal-that-could-restore-free-flowing-mississippi-river-in-twin-cities/600216559/|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[Saint Anthony Falls#Locks and dams|region's three locks]] were under federal disposition study as of 2023.<ref>{{cite news|title=On Minneapolis riverfront, 'orphan hazard' threatens St. Anthony Falls|last=Callaghan|first=Peter|date=June 30, 2023|access-date=July 3, 2023|work=[[MinnPost]]|url=https://www.minnpost.com/state-government/2023/06/on-minneapolis-riverfront-orphan-hazard-threatens-st-anthony-falls/|archive-date=July 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703051904/https://www.minnpost.com/state-government/2023/06/on-minneapolis-riverfront-orphan-hazard-threatens-st-anthony-falls/|url-status=live}}</ref> {{Wide image|Panorama-Minneapolis-1915.jpg|1000px|alt=panoramic view of Saint Anthony Falls and the Mississippi riverfront in 1915|[[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] riverfront and [[Saint Anthony Falls]] in 1915. At left, [[Pillsbury "A" Mill|Pillsbury]], power plants and the [[Stone Arch Bridge (Minneapolis)|Stone Arch Bridge]]. Today the [[Minnesota Historical Society]]'s Mill City Museum is in the [[Washburn "A" Mill]], across the river just to the left of the falls. At center-left are [[Northwestern Consolidated Milling Company|Northwestern Consolidated]] mills. The tall building is [[Minneapolis City Hall]]. In the right foreground are [[Nicollet Island]] and the [[Hennepin Avenue Bridge]].}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page